It is Christmas Eve and I won’t be making any update to Winedoctor today, or over the weekend. Normal service will resume Monday December 27th (and as both the 27th and 28th are public holidays here in Scotland, consider this a mark of extreme dedication). Instead I will devote myself today to preparing our Christmas dinner in advance of tomorrow’s celebrations, and digging out a few bottles from the cellar in readiness.

I often find myself in awe of those who already have their drinking planned, with a list of a dozen bottles (or more) ready to be consumed. First I am just not that organised; the run up to Christmas has been as hectic as ever, and frankly I am grateful that I found time to buy a turkey. Secondly, while there will be six of us for dinner, two have not yet progressed past the alcopops stage, and three will consume in moderation (very wise), which leaves me doing the heavy lifting. A dozen bottles might just be overkill.

While I remain undecided about my Christmas drinking, there is at least one bottle already in my mind. I am quite certain I shall pull one of my magnums of François Pinon’s 2015 Vouvray Brut Non-Dosé. Although it already seems like an age ago, 2021 was the year François (pictured above, with his son Julien, on the last time we met, in 2020) left us. He leaves a great legacy of many fine bottles (well, that’s certainly true of my cellar) and I shall be toasting him this weekend, and no doubt many more times in the future.

I am grateful to all my subscribers and readers, thank you for your support. Some have been with me since the early days of Winedoctor, but others (and quite a lot of you!) have joined this year. I hope I can keep both old-timers and newcomers entertained, enlightened and informed in what remains of 2021 and of course 2022. I certainly have many reports, tastings and a few new profiles lined up.

My best wishes for some happy, peaceful (or bacchanalian if your prefer) family time over the coming days, even if with Covid on the rise again some of that has to be at a distance, rather than face to face. Remember, in the words of the great philosopher D:Ream, things can only get better.

Merry Christmas!

Chris